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World Suicide Prevention Day 2018: Why parents should be concerned?

With suicide being the second most common cause of death for the age group up to 25 years worldwide, it is one of the strongest risk factor for subsequent suicide. World Suicide Prevention Day is observed every year on 10th September; the theme for this year is “Working Together to Prevent Suicide”.

Self-harm is a cautious, behavior that is non-suicidal in nature, but causes physical harm to one’s body helping relieving emotional distress. It is a major public health problem currently, especially amongst children and adolescents. The suicide cases being on rise in recent years, along with the number of self-harm cases, there is a need to minimize these issues and ensure prevention of suicidal thoughts, self-harm to ensure good mental health.

Self-harm can be in any nature from cutting, burning, bruising, picking, puncturing, embedding, scratching or hitting oneself-etc. Most individuals who self-injure themselves have difficulties with emotional expression. Others who self-harm themselves must be struggling, as they might have anxiety, depression, and experience of physical or sexual abuse or more serious psychological concerns. Thus, as parents, it is vital to spot it as soon as possible in order to do everything you can to help avoid it. It is observed that teenage girls and women tend to self-harm themselves more than boys and men, but this might be represented as a fact that females tend to go for professional help more than males.

In addition to taking your child to see a mental health expert, there are other ways which through you can help your child reduce the urge to self-harm. Following are the ways in which parents can help their child eliminate self-harm thoughts from their mind:

Watch out for the signs of depression: Emotional signs are usually harder to spot and certainly do not mean that a young person is self-harming. If you observe any of these or bodily signs then there may be case to worry.
 Depression, tearfulness and low enthusiasm
 Becoming withdrawn and appropriated, for example wanting to be alone by locking yourself in the bedroom for long hours
 Irregular eating habits, sudden weight gain or loss
 Low self-esteem and self-blaming
 Drinking or consuming drugs
 Family issues can also impact mental health

Show you understand: No matter what relationship you have with your child, discovering their self- harming will inevitably have a bigger emotional effect on you. But during such a situation, it is important to keep yourself calm and make them feel that you’re there with them to help and support. You must avoid jumping to immediate conclusions or figure out instant solutions, also never show them or give an expression that their self-harming has created a big problem for you.

You must create positivity by saying things such as “I am concerned about you and I want to try and help you” instead of giving a reaction by saying “Why did you do this to yourself?” this can make things worse.

Discover the triggers: Get to the bottom of what is making your child to self-harm and think about how the triggers can be avoided. If it makes you think that these might be in connection to spending time on internet, have a look at online safety. Make your child understand that self-harm can only offer temporary relief. Explain to them that you will help them solving the problems and hurting themselves is not the only way.

Help them to find new ways to cope: You must always help your child to find new ways, rather just making them understand to avoid self-harm. Following are the things you can suggest that can help them partly:
 Take an ice cube in your hand until it melts
 Jot down your negative feelings then tear the paper up
 Listen to music
 Talk to friends or family
 Take a bath or shower
 Exercise or walk
 Watch your favorite movie or series
 Also, take your child to an experienced psychiatrist for better treatment and therapy

(By Dr Parul Tank, Consultant, Psychiatrist, Fortis Hospital Mulund)

Published: September 10, 2018 2:41 pm

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